The homeless of St. Petersburg, Fla. have become the unlikely stars of a series of fetish videos in which they were treated like human "punching bags" by scantily clad women. In exchange for the filmed maulings—some so severe they put the recipients in the hospital—they were given $50 by Jeffrey S. Williams, the 58-year-old website manager of shefights.net. Now two of the men are suing.

The truth about what Williams was up to came to light when G.W. Rolle, a local homeless advocate, walked through a downtown park and noticed that "several men had black eyes, busted lips and were limping."

At first, people wouldn't talk. But Rolle "overheard a couple of conversations about the beatdown," and started asking questions.

Several men explained that promoters and others from shefights.net recruited homeless men for the female domination fetish videos. The men were taken to a nearby townhome, where women beat them while someone videotaped the session. Sometimes, the men told Rolle, they were handcuffed or shackled and whipped or flogged.

The lawsuit, filed April 1st on behalf of two of the homeless men featured in the videos, claims that their exploitation by Williams violated specific state hate crimes meant to protect the homeless. Among their injuries, they list "broken ribs, a dislocated jaw, back injuries, a dislocated arm, sustained bruises and multiple lacerations." Williams, meanwhile, denies the charges, and is countersuing for damage to his reputation.